Out From Under
by BobWhite
Summary: Full Summary inside. R&R to find out more. Hope u like it.
1. That Horrible Day

**That Horrible Day:**

**That Morning:**

"**DEREK!"** Casey yelled as Derek burst into her room, wearing one of her skirts. She ran after him & finally tackled him on the ground. Lizzie pulled the skirt off of him & threw it in her dirty laundry basket.

"**I was going to wear that today. You are so immature!"** she stormed off to change her outfit for the second time that morning. Derek would pay later. But right now, she had to concentrate on Max. Max was going to drive her home from school in his new car that he had just gotten a couple days ago. He'd had his driver license for only two weeks, but their parents trusted them completely.

Casey came down stairs for breakfast & had a piece of toast. Lizzie & Marty complimented her on her outfit. Edwin asked her to say hi to Max for him. Derek rolled his eyes & finished his breakfast, and then he & Casey headed out the door & to school.

**That Afternoon at School:**

Casey & Max ate lunch together & Derek couldn't help feel a little jealous. He didn't have Kendra to eat with anymore. In fact, Kendra was more into eating with Emily, Max, Casey & their friends then with him. He was pissed that Casey had taken _his_ friends from him. Casey would pay later, when she got home from school, after Max dropped her off.

That day, school went by fast for some reason. Maybe because everyone was having so much fun & couldn't wait for the football game the next day. Whatever it was, school was over before anyone could say 'pull my finger.' Casey got into Max's car & they left after the bus left. If Derek had known that this would be the last day to torture his step-sister, he would have made her day miserable.

**The Accident:**

Max was heading along the highway towards the McDonald-Venturri home. He & Casey were laughing about a joke he'd just told. The semi-truck lost control & slammed into the drivers' side of the car. Casey screamed in terror as the car spun into oncoming traffic. Everything was going in slow motion. A truck was coming straight for the passenger's side of the door. She looked over at Max but couldn't tell if he was breathing. She made one final move. She dialed 911 on her phone before the truck slammed into her side of the car, brakes squealing in the background. Traffic all around had slammed to a complete stop, looking on in horror as to what had just happened.

**The McDonald-Venturri Household:**

"**Dude, where is Casey. Max was supposed to drop her off two hours ago."** Lizzie complained.

"**Maybe she's goofing off."** Edwin ventured.

"**Casey goof off. Hah-Hah. That's really funny Edwin. Casey would never goof off. She's too much of a goody too shoe to goof off, even with Max."** Derek finished.

"**Then where is she?" **Marty asked.

"**How should I know? Call her & you may find out."**

But they never got a chance to call because at that moment the doorbell rang & George answered it. It was the police.

"**Can I help you officers?"**

"**Can we come in? We need to tell you something."**

"**Yeah sure, come right in."** George was looking at Derek as if saying _what did you do this time?_ Derek looked back as if saying _nothing that would ever involve the police._

"**What can I help you with officers? If it has anything to do with my son Derek…"**

"**This has nothing to do with your son. Do you know a Casey McDonald?"**

"**Yes, she's my step-daughter. Why, what did she do?"**

"**She called us from this phone."** They laid the phone on the coffee table. It was in an evidence bag & there was blood on the phone.

"**Hey, that's Casey's phone."** Lizzie said.

"**Did something happen to my daughter?"** Nora said coming into the living room.

"**You might want to sit down. I'm afraid we have some bad news."**

The look on their faces said it all. Casey was not coming home today.

"**What is it?"** Derek asked.

"**Have you watched the news yet?"**

"**No, we just finished eating dinner, why?"**

"**Your daughter was involved in a car accident this afternoon. She's been taken to St. Katherine's hospital. I'm so sorry to have to tell you this."**

"**What about the boy she was with? Is Max okay?"** Derek asked.

"**Max is his name? Thank you for clearing that mystery up for us. We've been trying to get ahold of his parents to tell them the news."**

"**His parents are in Las Vegas on vacation. Max is home alone, watching his little brother."**

"**Then it's our duty to tell you that the boy did not survive the crash. He was DOA. I'm sorry. Your daughter has been taken to St. Katherine's. We hope she makes it through."** The officers left & the McDonald-Venturri family left, stopping at Emily's first & picking her up, explaining what happened.


	2. St Katherine's Hospital

**St. Katherine's Hospital:**

**The Emergency Room:**

When the Venturri-McDonald family arrived at St. Katherine's Hospital, they were escorted to a family room where the doctor was waiting. Emily, who was with them, was asked to stay outside, but Derek said she was there sister, adopted from New York. She was aloud to stay. But what the doctor had to tell them, was not what they wanted to hear. In fact, it was the kind of news no parent ever wants to hear from a doctor or the police. Nora spoke up first, once everyone was in the family room.

"**How****'****s****Casey?****How****'****s****my****daughter?****"** Nora asked.

"**She was taken up to surgery about an hour after she arrived."**

"**Then****she****'****ll****be****okay?****"** George asked.

"**Unfortunately, no, not right away. She had major internal bleeding and she had no pulse when the ambulance arrived at the hospital. But we are doing everything we can to save your daughter's life and she has already shown that she is willing to fight for her life."**

"**How****is****that?****By****not****dying?****Casey****won****'****t****die,****she****'****s****way****to****smart****to****die.****"** Derek said.

"**She opened her eyes for a few seconds while she was here in the ER. But then we had to sedate her so she wouldn't move while she was getting a CAT scan."**

"**And****what****did****the****CAT****scan****show?****Is****she****going****to****be****okay?****"** Emily asked.

"**That's a tough question to ask. We were deciding whether or not to put her into a drug induced coma but before we could come to a decision, she slipped into a coma and we had to race to get a suitable air way. I'm sorry, but your daughter had to be put on a ventilator to help her breathe. She's in surgery right now and the surgeon's are doing their best to fix all of the internal bleeding, but it's a tough case. Your daughter had some serious injuries and they were tough to see even with the X-Ray's, CAT scan, Portable Ultrasound…"**

"**Wait,****why****would****Casey****need****an****Ultrasound?****She****'****s****not****pregnant.****"** Nora said.

"**We don't only use the Ultrasounds to check the vitals of pregnant women and their unborn children. We also use them to determine how bad an accident victim is and to determine if there is a surgical solution to the problem. With the Portable Ultrasound, we didn't have to go to three different sections of the hospital to find out what was wrong with your daughter."**

"**But****she****'****s****going****to****be****okay,****right?****She****'****s****going****to****make****it,****right?****"** Lizzy asked.

"**That all depends on what the surgeons found when they opened her up*. Your daughter may need many more surgeries to make her whole again and she may need to go through physical therapy so that she'll be able to use her right arm again, but other than that, I can't tell you much. You'll just have to wait for the surgeon to come out and talk to you. Again, I am very sorry for having to tell you this."**

[*AN-Normal doctors don't say this, just couldn't find the right word to put here. Sorry about the confusions if any.]

"**Thank****you****doctor,****"** George said as the doctor walked away.** "****Why****don****'****t****you****kids****go****get****something****to****eat?****Emily,****we****'****ll****let****your****parents****know****what****is****going****on****with****Casey****and****let****them****know****that****you****are****staying****with****us****until****she****gets****out****of****surgery.****"**

"**Thank you Mr. Venturri."**

"**You're welcome, but just to be on the safe side, you should probably call me dad or George while you're with us. They already think that you are our adopted daughter; let's let them keep believing that. That way you can here how Casey is doing from the doctor and not one of us. How does that sound?"**

"**Sounds****okay****George.****" **Emily said trying not to laugh in the process. It sounded weird to call him by his first name. The others laughed a little too. But then there faces got serious again and the kids headed for the cafeteria to grab some food and bring it back to the waiting room.

"**This can't be happening George. Casey can't be here, not now. Her father was going to come up this weekend and take the girls skiing. But I don't know what to tell him now."**

"**We'll tell him together. This wasn't anyone's fault. We'll get more information from the cops when we talk to them, once Casey is out of surgery and well on her way to recovering. We need to be here for her, now more than ever. And if Derek gets into his usual attitude, I give the kids permission to beat him senseless. And it wouldn't be that big of a deal anyways since were in the hospital already anyways."**

"**Don't make me laugh George, this is serious."**

"**You need a little laughing at the moment, hun. I'm sure Casey will be okay. We just need to pray that she survives surgery and that she wakes up and comes back to us. We need to be strong for Lizzie and Marty, Edwin and even Derek. None of us were expecting this today and we need to be there for each other. I'll call Max's parents in the morning and let them know what is going on. I think Derek said something about his brother staying the night at a friend's house tonight."**

"**Oh, I feel so sorry for that little boy. He's going to feel so alone when he gets the news about Max. And his poor parents. They're going to be devastated."**

"**Let's not talk about that now. We need to be strong for the kids and for Casey. The stronger we are, the quicker Casey will get better, I hope."**

Three hours later, the surgeon walked out of the OR and headed for the waiting room. He noticed a small family and the girl that was supposedly adopted by the family. The surgeon of course knew better, but that didn't bother him. The girl he had just operated on would need all the support she could get during her recovery; there was no doubt about that. he didn't care that the African American girl sitting with the family wasn't even related to them, all he cared about was letting the family and friend know that there daughter would live to see her next birthday, whenever that was.

Emily looked up when she heard the sound of feet coming towards the waiting room. She stood up, which alerted the McDonald-Venturri family as well. Marty had fallen asleep in a chair next to her father. Lizzie and Edwin were just starting to fall asleep and Derek, well Derek was too wired on energy drinks to even try and fall asleep. He was too worried about Casey to even think about anything but her. Derek, Lizzie, Edwin, Emily, Nora and George all stood around, waiting for the doctor to walk through the door.

He saw them all stand up and knew that what he was about to tell the family was something no mother or father ever wanted to go through, no matter what. He stopped in front of the family and the mother spoke up, asking about her daughter.

"**How's Casey? Is she okay?"**

"**Your daughter survived surgery and I am aware that you talked to the ER doctor when you got here. He told me that you had an 'adopted' daughter with you. He didn't believe just as I don't believe that she is your daughter, but it doesn't matter to me. Casey had a lacerated liver which we repaired, a collapsed lung which we re-inflated and a damaged kidney which we were unable to save. We had to remove the kidney. A person can live with only one kidney; it's what they do afterwards in life that counts. Her right arm was dislocated in the crash and her right leg was broken in three places. We had to insert a metal rod in order for it to heal completely again. She will be limited to what she can and can't do when she goes home, but for now she is stable. We have moved her to the Recovery Unit and will move her to ICU in about an hour or so. I will tell the nurse when to come get you so that you can be with her. And I will keep you updated on her condition as the weekend progresses."**

"**Thank you doctor and thank you for taking care of her and making sure she makes it."**

"**Well, it's still a long road ahead, but she should make a full recovery. Your daughter is a very strong person and from what I've seen, she should be awake by Monday morning or afternoon, depending on when we start to ween her off the drugs. We don't want to keep her in a coma longer than necessary."**

"**But****I****thought****the****ER****doctor****said****that****she****wasn****'****t****in****a****medically****induced****coma?****" **Emily asked.

"**She wasn't but when we realized that she was semi conscious while we were starting surgery, we put her into a medically induced coma so she wouldn't wake up during surgery. She should be well on the mend by the middle of next week, though she won't be leaving the hospital anytime soon, that is for sure. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check up on a few patients. I'll have the nurse come get you when she is moved to the ICU and you can spend as much time with her there. Excuse me."**

The doctor excused himself and headed for a different section of the floor, presumably where his other patients were. Casey's family and Emily sat around for another hour before the nurse came and got them and said that she would take them to Casey's room. George picked Marty up and followed the rest of his family to his step-daughter's room. This was going to be a long recovery for the whole family, that was for sure.


End file.
